This image is the product of emotions, a true connection with the natural landscape and patience. I had passed this location numerous times over the years in search of wildlife, but never “saw an image”. One Spring morning, while hiking through, this section of trees pulled me in. I didn’t see an image that day, but I didn’t ignore what I felt. I returned to this spot every season for several years. The feeling remained, but the conditions didn’t quite fit my emotions. Fall colors, new Spring green, snow covered. They all lacked…something. I stayed true to the emotions that kept bringing me back. Finally, it happened! This particular morning had just the right even light and brightness. It was snowing lightly, the wispy dormant aspens had a delicate, wispy lightness to them. The pines in the background showed there subtle detail and subdued, yet rich color, which set off every nuance of the aspen branches. This was the moment where my emotion matched the visual moment! The art happened. I was able to “bring the fine art of nature home”.

This process of “bringing the fine art of nature home” is something I have been basing my art around for years. It is also what I base my photo tour concepts on. I don’t want to create massive volumes of pictures. I want to do justice to those moment in time that make me feel…right. And I want to share that with the world in the finest print possible. That is my passion. For this image, I felt it was imperative to choose my medium carefully. With the fine detail and subtlety in this composition, I chose to use my 8×10 inch film camera, which I have adapted to also take 4×10 inch panoramic format images. This huge format not only records amazing detail, but also forces me to take full responsibility for every aspect of the final exposure and image. Along with it’s cumbersome nature and great cost to shoot, I find that I must shoot very deliberately and consciously to make sure my exposure and composition match my emotional vision. This has helped me grow as an artist, and enables me to express the emotion I feel in the natural world through my fine art prints.

Photo Tip:
Stop thinking technically (about all the functions on the camera and all of your software), and focus on that which brought you to the outdoors to begin with. Yes, we have to understand enough about exposure, light and composition to capture an image, but we need to have a feeling about the subject to compose a piece of art! Trust yourself and the emotions that draw you to a particular image, and use the technical aspects of photography as the final part of capture. Immerse yourself in your natural surrounding, enjoy the experience and let your art go beyond a two dimensional technical capture.

Equipment:
Canham 8×10 Metal Field Camera adapted to also Shoot 4×10 Panorama, Rodenstock 360 mm APO Sironar-S lens, Really Right Stuff BH-55 Ball Head, Gitzo Carbon Tripod, Fuji Provia RDP III  100 speed Transparency Film.